Adani Group, Embraer finalise Dholera for setting up aircraft assembly line

New Delhi: Adani Group and Embraer have finalised Dholera in Gujarat as the site for setting up a final assembly line for the Brazilian aerospace major's regional jets, according to sources.

Embraer, which opened its office in the national capital in October last year, is betting big on the Indian market, especially tapping opportunities in the civilian and defence aircraft areas.

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Adani Defence & Aerospace and Embraer inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the strategic collaboration on regional transport aircraft in India in January this year.

The sources said Dholera has been finalised as the site for the FAL for the Embraer jets.

Specific details, including about possible aircraft orders for Embraer jets, could not be ascertained.

Adani Group and Embraer did not offer any comments.

Dholera Special Investment Region (DSIR), near Ahmedabad, is being developed as a planned greenfield industrial smart city.

In January, Adani Defence & Aerospace said the collaborative industrial partnership will aim to establish an assembly line, followed by a phased increase in indigenisation to advance India's Regional Transport Aircraft (RTA) programme in alignment with the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative and the UDAN regional connectivity vision.

UDAN is the government's regional air connectivity scheme, which has been operational for ten years now.

About the progress in terms of the site selection for the planned facility as part of the collaboration with the Adani Group, and orders for new aircraft in India, Embraer Commercial Aviation CEO Arjan Meijer, last week, said teams were working.

"It is we need to get the commitments from the airlines because there's no need to set up a line if there are no airline orders in parallel...," he had said and also mentioned that India is a complex market from a revenue perspective.

During an interaction at the company's headquarters in Sao Jose dos Campos in Sao Paulo, Brazil, last week, Meijer also said India is the biggest market around the world, with well over a billion people, with a travel propensity which is very low.

"So we think that the potential of India is just amazing... we also know that to get into India, we need to work from a holistic perspective," he had said.

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Embraer is looking to strengthen its presence in the country's commercial aviation, defence, business aviation, services and support, and urban air mobility segments.

At present, Embraer, whose E-Jets began operations in India in 2005, has nearly 50 aircraft in the country serving the Indian Air Force, government agencies, business jet operators and commercial airline Star Air.

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